Illini thread. Feel free to delete, Jeff or anyone else, if I'm the only one left.

So, again, kinda douchy of me, but seeing as how a)it's the day before Thanksgiving so I'm pretty drunk, as per tradition, b)the Illini just won Maui, and c)I've had something of a presence here over the years that I've let go doormant, I'm restarting the Illini fan thread that went on for years. Hopefully some of my brethren are still around.

2. **** the results of one tourney. The more important thing? The fact that Illini hoops is fun to watch again. I was watching with a bunch of friends, and I...I think it was a D.J. three attempt, kinda haphazard. My immediate reaction was, "NO!!! You can't take that!" Thinking, of course, that our former coach would shout him down and coach the aggressiveness out of him.

No more. It's just so refreshing to have a coach who demands an aggressive, high-scoring style of play. No wonder Evan Turner tweeted to Brandon Paul how much he'd love playing for John Groce.

3. Speaking of Twitter.....did I really see Cliff Alexander tweeting about how impressive the Illini were the other night? I mean, losing out on Keita Bates-Diop SUCKS. Elite downstate prospects are ones that you usually think Illinois has to get. But when you're getting the attention of the even-more-elite, top-five-in-the-nation elite Chicago recruits like Alexander?

It might not mean a commit, but it doesn't mean nothing, either.

Even if the immediate returns don't turn out to be as encouraging as they look at this moment...things look good.

Oh, and also. He may no longer be the Illinois football coach, but I'm keeping my avatar as is. Not only is Zook obviously better than the dumpster fire who replaced him (not that Zook didn't need to go, but that's another story) but it's just a hilarious pic, still.

Re: Illini thread. Feel free to delete, Jeff or anyone else, if I'm the only one left.

Yeah still here. It is quite refreshing to see how this team is playing so far. I know the last few years have been so frustrating but to do the unexpected and win Maui has me re-energized. It will be interesting to see where they take it with big games at Gonzaga and Missouri before the beginning of the B10 season. I know it's wayyyyy toooo early to make this comparison but this team could be a little like UConn in 10-11. Led by a 20 point scoring guard and have good overall guard play but suspect post play. I thought about this comparison before the season even started but obviously want to see how it plays out. Also winning Maui is a good track record for making the tourney. In Maui's history beginning in 1984 only 2 teams failed to make the tournament and that was in 2 of the first 3 years of the tournament. 4 teams won the title, 1 runner up, 2 semifinalists, 2 elite eight appearances, 4 to the sweet 16.

Re: Illini thread. Feel free to delete, Jeff or anyone else, if I'm the only one left.

Yes Illinois fan here! I am happy with the way we've been playing but we also started like this last year so I'm not going to get too excited yet.. things that have impressed me so far tho is.. the way Groece gives the team freedom to play on the offensive end, BP3 finally being more assertive/composed on the offensive end altho I'm sure a lot of that has to to with groece giving them more freedom but BP3 is finally taking the reigns and that's promising to see. Three players besides BP3 that I have been impressed so far is tyler griffey, bertrand, and abrams. Those three guys are playing with a lot more confidence. I was never a fan of bertrand and altho it was just one game.. he really shined in that georgia tech game and if he can play half of what he did in that game the entire season that would be huge.

Couple of things that I'm concerned with tho are the inside play. We're very small on the interior altho we have the athletes to run to offset this, it will be very difficult style to play once the big ten season begins. Also I think we're relying on the 3 too much, not if but when we're not knocking them down teams will drill us if we don't attack the basket. Abrams seems like our best penetrator right now and that kinda scares me.

I honestly didn't know anything about Groece coming in but he seems like a good fit, I like his energy and intensity and he seems to have everybody's eyes and ears which weber didn't seem to have last year. I see this team gelling come march and should be able to make some noise then.